Danger music | |
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Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | 1960s, Fluxus |
Typical instruments | Various highly dangerous things |
Local scenes | |
Japan | |
Other topics | |
Danger music is an experimental form of avant-garde 20th- and 21st-century music and performance art. It is based on the concept that some pieces of music can or will harm either the listener or the performer, understanding that the piece in question may or may not be performed.[2] Kyle Gann describes in his book Music Downtown: Writings from the Village Voice how Takehisa Kosugi's composition Music for a Revolution directs the performer to "scoop out one of your eyes 5 years from now and do the same with the other eye 5 years later."[4] Works such as this are also sometimes referred to as anti-music because they seem to rebel against the concept of music itself. Danger music is often closely associated with the Fluxus school of composition, especially the work of Dick Higgins, who composed a series of works entitled Danger Music.[5]